Heavy-lift vessel fills growing niche

ALAN PEAT A NEW heavy-lift ship is to take to the Southern African waters from October 15 following the purchase by Maritime Carrier Shipping (Macs) of the flexible, shallow-draught heavy-lift vessel, the MV Cheyenne. Amongst her specifications, she has a crane capacity of 2 x 200-metric tons (combinable up to 400-mt as a single weight lift) and a super-strong roll-on, roll-off (ro-ro) ramp capable of handling more than 1 000-mt. The ship also provides a float-on, float-off (flo-flo) facility, with a semi-submersible loading capability up to 2 500-mt. In her 104-metre hull length and a 20.50-m width her single hold is 85-m x 15.17-m, and her maximum draught is 4.80-m. The MV Cheyenne will be integrated with Macs’ every 8-10 days liner service between the North-West Continent and Southern Africa – enabling the line to offer heavy-lift services of up to 400-mt all around the Southern African coast. This will cover the traditional Macs destinations of Walvis Bay, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Richards Bay and Maputo, as well as all the shallow draught ports in East/Southern Africa including all ports in Madagascar, the Indian Ocean Islands, Seychelles and the Comores Islands. According to Lars Greiner, Macs breakbulk manager, the new heavy-lift service will also be available to client Galborg’s multi-purpose Gulf Africa Line (GAL) service - connecting the US Gulf and US South Atlantic with Southern Africa. “The universal purpose vessel MV Cheyenne will be used as a floating crane at all ports where special handling equipment is required and where Macs own tonnage does not have sufficient gear to operate themselves.”